How Much Can Fantastic Beasts Make This Weekend? More Than $100 Million?

IndieWire writer Tom Brueggemann thinks analysts who are expecting a $70–$80 million U.S. opening for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them are underestimating the film's prospects. He argues that the oversized performances of Deadpool and Doctor Strange argue that 2016 audiences are especially hungry for fresh takes on familiar fictional worlds. The real question, of course: How much enthusiasm can audiences muster for a Harry Potter prequel that doesn't actually feature any of the beloved characters from those films? [IndieWire]

GOP Puts the FCC on Ice Until Trump Inauguration

John Thune, the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, sent a letter to FCC Chair Tom Wheeler promising that "any action taken" between now and Donald Trump's inauguration in January will be subject to "particular scrutiny" from lawmakers. Thune said the new administration will be reviewing any "complex, partisan or otherwise controversial items" on its agenda next year. Contentious issues the commission is currently considering include a proposed rule that would allow cable customers to watch TV without renting a cable box as well as the evolving state of net neutrality. Thune previously criticized the FCC's decision to classify Internet service providers as Title II common carriers, a hallmark of new net neutrality rules. [The Wrap]

iPhone Camera App to Get Augmented Reality Tech

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Perhaps emboldened by the runaway success of this summer's blockbuster Pokémon Go app, Apple is reportedly working to add face- and object-recognition capabilities to the iPhone's camera, allowing users to interact with what's in front of them in the real world. The technology would presumably become part of an SDK that could be employed by third-party developers. The news dovetails with rumors that Apple is also hard at work developing AR glasses for releases in 2018 or later. [Business Insider]

Increasing Number of Still Photographers Moving into Video

Photojournalists say they prefer to make still photographs, not videos — but an ever-increasing number of them have to shoot video content. According to The State of News Photography 2016, a new report from the World Press Photo Foundation and the University of Stirling in the U.K., 37 percent of 1,991 respondents report that they were required to work with video in 2016. Compare that to 32% who said the same thing last year. Nearly 6,000 photographers who entered the 2016 World Press Photo Contest were invited to respond to the second-annual survey. [World Press Photo Foundation (PDF)]

NBCUniversal Donates 606 35mm Prints to Toronto International Film Festival for Preservation

Rear Window, Dracula, Brazil and Being John Malkovich are among the titles the studio has shipped to Toronto, where they will be evaluated for condition — and some will be screened at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in the future. [The Hollywood Reporter]