Last weekend, in a sudden and unexpected deal, telecommunications giant AT&T agreed to buy the media conglomerate Time Warner for $85 billion. As its current offerings become more commoditized AT&T is looking to add content to its portfolio through picking up Time Warner, a company that counts among its assets networks such as HBO and CNN, not to mention Warner Bros. Pictures. However, this marriage is far from certain will surely come under the scrutiny of antitrust regulators.
As awards season gets underway, studios have begun releasing some of their high profile title in hopes of going after Oscar glory. Historically, that meant opening arty films in a limited number of cinemas before going wide after gaining word of mouth. We explain why that’s happening less often these days.
Meanwhile, the Wanda Group is inviting all of Hollywood, and frankly anyone producing film and TV, to its new movie studios in Qingdao, China. They are offering a 40% incentive in hopes of luring productions to the multi-billion dollar facilities, but will anyone take them up on it?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why Bob Dylan might not be interested in commenting on his recent Nobel Prize award, why the “Deadpool” sequel lost its director and Garth Brooks signs an exclusive deal to stream his music on Amazon’s new service.

comScore Announces Official Worldwide Box Office Results for Weekend of October 23, 2016
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/comscore-announces-official-worldwide-box-office-results-for-weekend-of-october-23-2016-300349538.html
Nate Parker’s ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Could Lose $10M for Fox Searchlight
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nate-parkers-birth-a-nation-939519
Seeing the Good and the Bad in Third Quarter Movie Ticket Prices
https://celluloidjunkie.com/2016/10/20/seeing-good-bad-third-quarter-movie-ticket-prices/
Brice 3 Pirated Movie Stunt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPVVLFN6XGQ
AT&T Agrees to Buy Time Warner for $85.4 Billion
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/business/dealbook/att-agrees-to-buy-time-warner-for-more-than-80-billion.html
Swift Opposition to Resurrection of AT&T Giant
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/24/business/dealbook/swift-opposition-to-resurrection-of-att-giant.html
Book Filter Entry for Play It Loud
http://bookfilter.com/2016/02/01/play-it-loud/
Chuck Berry, 90, Will Release His First New Album in Four Decades ‘Chuck’
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-chuck-berry-90-new-album-20161017-snap-story.html
Amazon Crashes Apple’s Exclusives Party with Huge Garth Brooks Deal
http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/amazon-crashes-exclusives-game-garth-brooks-deal/